Narcolepsy is a type of Sleeping Disorder. Actually it is used to represent group of people that are affected by excess sleepiness. A person suffering form it may also have problem of day dreaming. This problem is refreshed by few short naps, i.e. after 2 – 3 hours of nap a person feel sleepy again. A person suffering from it may feel asleep suddenly. This attack of sleeping suddenly can come anytime; it can be while walking, eating or even driving which can be too dangerous.

There are basically 2 kind of Narcolepsy:-

• Narcolepsy without cataplexy
• Narcolepsy with cataplexy

A person with cataplexy feels sudden weakening of muscles of arm, face or legs. This generally happens when the person experiences strong emotions like during laughter. People who are suffering from narcolepsy can experience following problems:-

• Sleep paralysis in which a person is not able to move for few minutes or seconds when waking up or falling asleep.
• Hypnagogic hallucinations in which a person start seeing things that aren’t there
• Disturbed night sleep in which a person woke up frequently and even have trouble falling to sleep again.
• Memory problem in which a person might even have problem in remembering things that other people tells that person as the person might not even be fully awake.

Almost 0.05% people are suffering from narcolepsy. This is not a genetic problem but still chances are higher to get this problem if your elders are suffering from it. Again, it is rare to have two people from same family to be suffering from this disease.

A person can know whether that person is suffering from this disease by looking at the following factors:-

• Your resistance to sleep during the day becomes worthless.
• Tendency to sleep again even after having a full night sleep.
• Tendency of feeling sleepy after the person had long nap.

If all the above is true then that person might be suffering from Narcolepsy. The worst part of this problem is that it can even last for life time if not properly treated. A person usually gets affected with this problem at the age group of 12 – 20. A person has to have the treatment. The person should also note that there can be other problem that are causing the above symptoms like another sleep disorder, medication use, substance abuse, a medical condition or even a mental health disorder.

If a person is suffering from Narcolepsy then that person must for and see a doctor, sleep specialist as other doctor might not be able to find the correct cause of the problem. The most important, it is not a common problem so only specialist gets to see such cases and will be able to give proper treatment. Doctor might need to know your full medical background before prescribing the right treatment for this problem. It is mostly treated by taking medicines that keeps you awake during day so that you can sleep well at night, but this can vary.

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